Join us for our 35th Anniversary Celebration!! Friday- Sunday April 20-22 Friday April 20, 2007 is officially WOLF PARK DAY across the state of Indiana! Wolf Park is hosting a wonderful weekend and we want YOU to join us! It is open to all Wolf Park members, so if you are not a member yet it is time to join, just so you can have the chance to do things like bid in the auction to sit with Monty Sloan at our fund raising banquet!

Wolf Park alumni Dr. Doug Smith, wolf project leader in Yellowstone National Park, and Karlyn Atkinson Berg, long time wolf advocate from Minnesota, will be two of our special guests at this exciting event. Doug and Karlyn had some special experiences at Wolf Park that influenced their future work on behalf of wolves, and we are thrilled to have them here for our celebration.

At our Saturday evening Fund Raiser Banquet Doug will share photos of the Yellowstone packs taken from the air using amazing powerful cameras and lenses, so you get an intimate view of the wild wolves. He will share stories about the wolves, with his unique perspective having been so deeply involved in this successful project. Karlyn will share stories about her history working with Dr. Klinghammer, and as a wolf advocate in the 1960's and 70's (through today)! Karlyn was doing wolf outreach with live wolves before Wolf Park started 35 years ago.

Both Doug and Karlyn will also do talks during the day about the status of the wolves they work with, Doug in the Yellowstone ecosystem, and Karlyn in our newly delisted Great Lakes region.

Beth Duman is another alumnus of Wolf Park who has done many years of wolf advocacy work primarily in Michigan. She has tirelessly educated thousands of people since she joined Wolf Park in the 1970s. Beth will bring her famous dogs that are trained to do all sorts of tricks including fun things like taking money out of people’s hands and placing it in a donation jar! She will tell us about her work educating hunters in Michigan to distinguish wolves vs coyotes, and about why they should not hurt the wolves living up there.

Dr. Tom Gehring will be coming in, a Purdue graduate, and current wildlife biologist based at Central Michigan University. Tom is doing multiple studies on how non-lethal wolf management programs can assist in preventing wolf depredations, and will talk about how these proactive programs can help save wolves’ lives in the long run.

Professor Jon Coleman, author of the recent book “Vicious, Wolves and Men in America” will be here to talk about the troubles we have had getting along with wolves throughout history. Jon is at the University of Notre Dame, and a winner of the American Historical Association’s 2005 John H. Dunning Prize and the Western History Association’s 2005 W. Turrentine Jackson Award.

We will also host our friends from Silly Safari, and Indianapolis based educational group that uses live animals to educate primarily young folks about animals, conservation, and why we all should love even the ugly, scary looking species around us. They will bring some of their animal colleagues that they work with, and tell us more about how live animals greatly enhance our ability to educate people.

Dr. Nicki Osypka has a long relationship with Dr. Klinghammer as well, and will be talking about her work doing agility training with some wolf pups. Nicki’s work with our wolves opened our eyes to ways we could enhance their lives with some basic training techniques, which is wonderful environmental enrichment for our intelligent residents.

Friday Evening Reception and Ice Breaker

Friday evening we will kick off our event with a reception open to the public, in downtown Lafayette. We will be in the historic Lafayette Theater, a former movie theater that has been renovated and is now perfect for special events. We will have snacks and beverages, and offer a wide array of entertainment from 6-10 pm. There is no charge for this event, and it is open to anyone in the community!

Dr. Klinghammer Welcome: The founder and director of Wolf Park, Dr. Erich Klinghammer will welcome our guests to our big 35th anniversary celebration.

Howling Contest: Participants will get to test their howling skills. The audience will vote on who has the best howl, and win exciting prizes! There will be a child and an adult competition.

Pat’s Wolf Park History : Pat will present a visual and spoken history of the highlights of our 35 years in Battle Ground. If you know Pat’s sense of humor, this is sure to be lots of fun!

Live music: Enjoy a festive evening complete with jazz music from Jamie Newman and friends.

Saturday will be a full day of talks from our guests (see above) as well as opportunities to take walking tours of the facility. Then it will be capped off by our AUCTION! We have dozens of interesting and unique items that have been donated for this major fund raising event. But it won’t be a fund raising event without YOU here to help us out! Bid on everything from original wolf art, to chances to spend time with staff members of your choice or to help butcher a deer for the wolves, to unique items like an autographed Chicago Timberwolves hockey puck! We also have a gorgeous hand made quilt with wolf images. There is something for everyone. As usual, this will be hosted by our favorite auctioneer– Uncle Kage!

Banquet

Our banquet on Saturday evening begins with cocktail hour, a chance to mingle with Wolf Park staff, volunteers, and all our special guests. This is followed by an extremely tasty dinner created by the chefs at Maize Catering, which is part of the fine dining establishment Maize in downtown Lafayette. It will include a menu of Bison and Venison, as well as an exquisite vegetarian lasagna for the herbivores among you. And we won’t forget dessert! After dinner Karlyn and Doug will offer their presentations as described above. Tickets are $50 per person, or $90 per couple. Go to www.wolfparkstore.com to get yours today! (NOTE: We will not be offering Howl Night that night.)

Sunday continues with more interesting talks from our guests (see above) followed by the first wolf and bison demonstration of the season. (weather permitting) We will also have walking tours, and folks who won auctions on things like getting to butcher the deer will enjoy their unique activities today. The fun will wrap up around 5 pm.

What an amazing weekend, and right here in Indiana! All you Midwesterners need to take advantage of such a great wolf educational experience on your doorstep! Don’t wait, get your ticket to the banquet today, as it might just fill up! There is no maximum on participation in the rest of the weekend, so we hope every wolf lover in the Midwest joins us.

We are offering a special limited edition 35th Anniversary T shirt. It will be a short sleeve shirt in earth tones. A draft of our design is in this message. It will be available soon from our online gift shop. These shirts are a fund raiser as well as a souvenir, intended to send us into our 35th year with something in our savings account! We are reinvigorating our commitment to assist in the conservation of wolves as the U.S. moves into a new era where wolves are losing some federal protections. Wolf Park wants to help make sure the wild wolves are protected, and the sales of these t-shirts will support our efforts! They will come with a special tag that announces our intentions, so these shirts make great gifts for all wolf lovers. They will retail for just $25.